


Counting Stars

by ByTheAngell (SomeLittleInfamy)



Series: Advent Calendar Prompts [15]
Category: The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Feels, Fluff, Longing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:15:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28150737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomeLittleInfamy/pseuds/ByTheAngell
Summary: With a little help from Ty, Mark makes a gift for Kieran to remember him by during their time apart.
Relationships: Mark Blackthorn/Kieran, Tiberius Blackthorn & Mark Blackthorn
Series: Advent Calendar Prompts [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2037739
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	Counting Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Advent Calendar Prompt: Stars

Mark is doing his best to get used to the idea of having free reign in the Institute. He’s putting forth every effort to appear at ease in the place that was once his home, to not act and feel like an outsider among his own family. So, when he comes across Tiberius sitting in the corner of one of the rooms by himself, Mark decides to check-in instead of simply walking by.

“What are you making?” Mark asks once he’s close enough to see his brother folding small pieces of paper.

“Paper stars,” Tiberius answers, not looking up from the paper under his deftly moving fingers. “You take the strips of paper and fold them like this-” he begins, demonstrating with proficient dexterity a series of folds that end in a tiny paper star, which he drops into a jar in front of him. “To get a star!”

Mark smiles. He’s seen a few of them littered around the Institute but hadn’t realized what they were until now. “How many of these have you made?”

Tiberius shrugs. “I dunno, a lot? When there are too many sometimes I have to throw some away before I can make more. But sometimes I write little messages inside, like secrets,” he admits. “ _OH,_ but one time Malcolm was here and he used magic to float them from the ceiling like actual stars! _That_ was pretty cool.”

Mark smiles wider at the mental image, and at seeing the look of joy cross Tiberius’ face. “That sounds wonderful indeed,” Mark agrees. Looking at the paper stars brings up his own memories, and Mark pauses for a moment as an idea comes to him.

“Would you mind if I joined you? I will find a way to replenish the paper I use,” he adds, not that there’s any shortage of the colorful pieces in front of them.

For the first time since Mark entered, Tiberius stops folding entirely and looks up at Mark with his full attention. “Really?”

“Of course. I would not take your things without-” “No, I mean you really want to make them with me?” Tiberius clarifies.

“Oh,” Mark says. “Yes, I do. If that’s alright with you, of course,” Mark repeats.

“Sure!” Tiberius agrees, already shifting over to make more room for Mark to join him at the table. By the end of the time they spend sitting mostly in silence, Mark has a small jar full of paper stars, all with little notes hand-written inside them.

\---

It isn’t long before he sees Kieran again, but because he’s never certain when and where it may be Mark is left carrying the small mason jar around with him at all times. He keeps it out of the way as much as possible, resting it in a large inside pocket of a jacket he was given.

They meet and embrace with touches full of love and longing. Despite his anticipation of this meeting to give Kieran the gift he prepared, Mark finds the jar almost entirely out of his thoughts the moment his fingertips come to rest against the side of Kieran face - that is, until Kieran presses up against him and, in turn, the jar.

“What is that?” Kieran asks, pulling back, and Mark reaches into his pocket to pull out the small jar.

“This is for you,” he says. “They’re paper stars. I made them with Tiberius. They’re filled with small messages I wrote just for you, for you to open when you’re alone at night and I am too far away to say the words myself.”

“This is…” Kieran starts, looking at the jar with a strange expression. Mark suddenly worries the gift may seem juvenile, as if paper stars could ever compare to the ones they rode beneath in the Hunt. “Very thoughtful. I will treasure it during our time apart.”

Mark smiles. “You know,” he adds. “When I was with you, I would look at the stars and recall my siblings, for I loved them and hated being parted with them.”

“I do,” Kieran replies.

“Now that I am with them again, it is you I look to the stars and recall. It is only you who I long for, missing from my days,” Mark says, and though the words ‘I love you’ never leave his lips he knows they are perfectly conveyed.

“I think of you as well,” Kieran returns, then stills, looking up at the sky. Mark knows that look - their brief time together is over once more. “I cannot stay,” Kieran confirms, his tone full of sorrow.

“Open the stars when you need them most,” Mark tells him, before giving him a parting kiss. “And know that I’ll be counting down the days until I can whisper the words to you by your side once more.”

They share one more kiss, fleeting but so full of care, before Mark watches Kieran leave with an increasingly familiar ache.

**Author's Note:**

> (Find me on [Tumblr](http://bytheangell.tumblr.com) and also on [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/By_The_Angell)! <3 )


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